Shane O’Neill, Colorado Rapids center back, has been called up to the first U.S. Under-23 camp of 2015, as the team prepares for Olympic qualifying for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The U-23s will train from March 23 to 26 and play a friendly against Bosnia’s U-23 National Team on Friday, March 27, in Tuzla. The team then heads to Denmark on Tuesday, March 31 for another friendly.

“We are about six months away from the Olympic qualifying tournament, and I think, for every single player, it’s a great chance and for every one of us on the staff a great opportunity. It starts right now with the first game in Bosnia,” coach Andy Herzog stated in a release announcing the call-ups.

The timing of the camp means O’Neill will miss the Rapids next match against the Dynamo in Houston on March 28.

Center back Bobby Burling will be available following his one-game red card suspension and is the likely candidate to pair in central defense with rookie standout Axel Sjoberg.Read more…

“It shows the talent we have in this age group, and we’re proud that they’re earning these chances,” Rapids VP of Soccer Operations Paul Bravo said of Hairston, O’Neill and Serna in a news release.

U.S. senior national team assistant coaches Tab Ramos and Andi Herzog, goalkeeper coach Chris Woods and U-18 head coach Javier Perez are running the camp in the Bahamas, which aims to build some cohesion in the group ahead of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. The camp also includes an Aug. 6 match against the Bahamian senior national team.

Hairston has appeared in 15 of the Rapids 21 matches this season, including five starts. The former University of Louisville product has one assist on the season.

Dillon Serna, front, and Shane O’Neill will join the U.S. U-21 team this week in California.

Three Colorado Rapids players will join the U.S. Under-21 National Team camp on Sunday, following the club’s match against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

The Rapids announced Friday that Shane O’Neill, Dillon Serna and Marlon Hairston will participate in the U.S. U-21 camp in Carson, Calif. until Thursday of next week. All three players will then rejoin the Rapids prior to their April 26 fixture in Seattle against the Sounders.

O’Neill and Serna, both Rapids Homegrown players, played with the U-20 squad during the 2013 U-20 World Cup in Turkey. Hairston, who was with the U-20s early in the summer, missed the World Cup due to injury.

Rapids VP of Soccer Operations Paul Bravo called it an “exciting opportunity” and evidence of the Rapids commitment to youth development.

HOUSTON — The U18 Rapids’ first game was against De Anza Force, a team from northern California, on Monday. Both teams started conservative, and were defensive-minded for the first 18 minutes of play. Then, with a quick counterattack and precise passing, the Rapids broke through De Anza’s defensive barrier.

Josue Chavez made a well-timed run, received the ball from Karsten Hanlin and finished by taking a shot that bent the ball into the upper right side of the net.

Although De Anza went into the half without a score, thanks in part to the intensity of defensive player Chris Gurule, De Anza responded quickly in the second half with a goal by Travis Pilon. Read more…

Shane O'Neill is introduced Tuesday by the Colorado Rapids after signing his first MLS contract at Dick's Sporting Goods Park

COMMERCE CITY – College lurked in the distance, but Shane O’Neill kept hope alive.

Professional hopes.

Already a member of the Rapids Academy, part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, O’Neill wanted desperately to be part of the big club.

His work and talent finally got him there. Quickly, actually.

O’Neill, 18, joined the Rapids Academy last year. Now the midfielder has signed a contract to start the process of truly being able to contribute to the Rapids’ first team, a transaction the team formally announced on Tuesday afternoon. And all of this has happened after he finished as the Gatorade Boys Soccer Player of the Year as a senior at Boulder’s Fairview High School just a year ago.

There we see how many of the players, all of them highly skilled, have been coddled for most of their athletic lives. Several were born inside the six-yard box, with an empty net in front of them and a ball at their feet. Those who weren’t born there were soon placed there by caring parents, and a U.S. Soccer establishment that begins catering to children by 14 or 15.

Hardscrabble? Hardly.

A couple are the children of university professors. One is Ghanian royalty. Several attended the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. where they received “the same visual training exercises used by military pilots,” according to the website.

Colorado Fusion Soccer Club, the organization that resulted from the merger of Denver and Aurora’s youth programs, has won a $300,000 grant to provide after-school soccer in 16 area schools with a high percentage of underprivileged kids.

The grant, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar through local donations, will provide 60 minutes of structured soccer activity and 30 minutes of discussion on healthy habits three afternoons a week at the schools in Denver and Aurora.

For kids, the benefit is clear — a safe place to play and learn soccer in the afternoons, while getting some education on how to avoid obesity and other health problems.

But soccer in the U.S. may well see a significant benefit too, said Fusion Executive Director Jon Goldin-Dubois.